Small particles have been in use for biomedical research and in vitro diagnostic protocols since the ‘50s. For example, polymeric micro-particles (e.g. latex microspheres) obtained as highly monosized assemblies have the advantages of biocompatibility and large reactive surface for biological units. These micro-particles have been adopted by food industry for diagnostics and testing in the production line, such as latex agglutination (LA) for identifying staphylococci, streptococci or Escherichia coli (E. coli). Clinical uses of polymeric microspheres include immunology diagnostics for malignant proliferative plasma cell disorders (i.e., multiple myeloma); immunodiagnostic assay systems using antibody-charged particles for quantification of immunoglobulin molecules in serum or cerebrospinal fluid, and fluorescent neuronal markers for studying the visual cortex.
Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) are one sub-class of this broad bio-related classification. The first therapeutic applications of magnetic devices to humans can be chased back to the 16th century, when Austrian physician Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) developed his theories about magnetic fluids. He sustained the influence of invisible ‘universal fluids’ on the human body (after the Newtonian ideas of ‘aether’ associated to gravitational forces and tidal cycles), and proposed his theory of ‘animal magnetism’ gaining notoriety across Europe. Since then Mesmerism (a therapeutics based mainly on hypnotism) has triggered a sustained flood of both research and ‘supernatural’ quackery (e.g. look here, here or here). An excellent discussion of these issues by Stephen Lower can be found here.
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